In recent years, a great deal of interest has been focused on the naturally occurring acyclic triamines: spermidine [N-3-aminopropyl-N-4-aminobutyl-amine], homospermidine [bis(4-aminobutyl)amine] and norspermidine [bis(3-aminopropyl)amine]. Derivatives of these compounds have been shown to be potent iron chelators [Jacobs et al, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 74, 16-26 (1977); Tait, Biochem, J., 146, 191 (1975); Peterson et al, Tetrahedron Lett. 1979, 4805 and Ong et al, J. Biol. Chem. 254, 1860 (1979)] and therefore of use in chelation therapy [Hoy et al, Br. J. Haematol. 43, 3 (1979)]. The amines appear in very limited amounts in nature, however, and depend for their ready availability on methods for their synthesis. Methods suggested heretofore for their preparation have proven inefficient and extremely expensive. [Tabor et al, Adv. Enzymol., Vol. 36, p. 203 (1972) and Tabor et al, Annui, Rev. Biochem. Vol. 45, p. 285 (1976)].
It is an object of the present invention to provide efficient and inexpensive methods for the preparation of spermidine, homospermidine and norspermidine in high yields from readily available starting materials.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide novel intermediates useful for the preparation of spermidine, homospermidine and norspermidine.